vote. The delay doomed the project. In 1995, Congress had imposed a Financial Control Board on the D.C. government in an attempt to help the city avoid impending bankruptcy. The Control Board had the power to override decisions made by the mayor and city council. On March 5, 1999, the Financial Control Board exercised that power and voided the city's agreements to build Children's Island. The Control Board said the project would cost too much and was not financially viable. The decision was the first time the panel overturned a decision by city officials. On September 15, 1998, the wooden footbridge from the western shore to Kingman Island was set afire by vandals around 9:00 p.m., and burned for about two and a half hours. Despite the efforts of 50 firefighters and a fire boat, most of the structure burned and collapsed into Kingman Lake. Recent development Since 1999, a variety of proposals have been made for Kingman and Heritage islands, most focusing on retaining the islands' character as one of the few remaining wild places within the city's limits. In December 2000, D.C. Mayor Anthony A. Williams signed an agreement with the Department of the Interior allowing the District government to retain ownership of Kingman and Heritage islands, even though the children's theme park had not been built. Under the agreement, the District of Columbia agreed to make improvements to the islands, provide police patrols on both islands, and conduct studies on how to best utilize the area. The city budgeted $500,000 for the capital improvement effort, which included rebuilding the wooden footbridge to the shore. The federal government and the city both agreed to spend $12 million on the study efforts. One of the improvements made was the planting and dedication, in September 2002, of a grove of trees on Kingman Island as a memorial to the lives lost in the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on New York City and The Pentagon. The United States Forest Service pledged $160,000 to the memorial grove, and environmental groups were working to raise additional money for more plantings and for maintenance. Over the next several years, the city said, it anticipated planting more than 2,000 trees in the grove, adding a memorial marker, and creating a nearby meadow for children to play in. In 2003, the Corps of Engineers said it would assist the city by replacing non-native trees and